South Sudan’s Information Minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin has said China would help finance and complete the country’s Juba International Airport.

The Juba-located airport is one of the two airports in South Sudan with many other state institutions that have long awaited completion due to poor planning and insufficient financial capital in spite of the country’s oil earnings.

The Minister commenting on the project partnership said the new airport will have extensions, car parks, lighting systems and a 24-hour electric power capacity due to frequent outage.

The current passenger terminal of the Juba airport which was built while South Sudan was under Sudan before the 1995 peace signing, is far from completion and not reflective of an international airport, housing two small passenger lounges where passengers are checked in without computers and security is loose.

According to Barnaba, China has agreed to loan South Sudan $158 million for the completion of the airport project which should be paid back after 20 years and would accrue an annual interest of 2 percent,

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